


From Me to You

by ideallyqualia



Series: Rare Pairs [26]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Universe, Comedy, Fluff, HQ Rarepair Week, Long-Distance Friendship, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-26
Updated: 2015-03-26
Packaged: 2018-03-19 17:21:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3617988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/pseuds/ideallyqualia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bokuto became addicted to playing animal crossing, and he needs help gathering fossils and fish. It's for Blathers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Me to You

**Author's Note:**

> For the rare pair week day 2 prompt: distance.

Kenma didn't regret showing video games to people. It was how he convinced Hinata and Kageyama to play video games with him, and he even added Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to his friends list. 

Kuroo hated it. He was fine with it until he tried visiting Bokuto, and Bokuto was too distracted to talk or go anywhere. 

"Bokuto, what are you doing?" Kuroo leaned over his shoulder from where they were sitting on the couch. Bokuto wasn't paying attention, and Kuroo thought his story was too entertaining to be ignored.

Kuroo saw someone standing in front of an owl on the screen. He pressed his lips together in disappointment.

"Is that an  _owl_ in a video game?"

Bokuto's eyes flicked up. "Yeah! His name is--"

"I don't care." Kuroo sat back and crossed his arms. "I shouldn't have expected anything different."

Bokuto turned away to shield the game from Kuroo. "You're just jealous. Kenma's in my town, and he's talking to me, not you."

"Bokuto, I really don't care."

Kuroo snaked a hand forward to tug it out of Bokuto's hands, and Bokuto elbowed him to scoot away. He eyed Kuroo with betrayal.

"Don't  _touch_ it. I just bought this." 

Kuroo sat around in boredom as Bokuto continued. Bokuto seemed happy, but when Kuroo checked, Bokuto was just talking to the owl.

"Is this the same owl?" 

Bokuto nodded without looking away. "I'm trying to find fossils for his museum."

"That sounds incredibly dull. I'm not even going to say 'no offense.' Offense fully intended. You're boring now." 

Bokuto's fingers tapped on the buttons to move his character. "How are you even friends with Kenma?"

Kuroo sunk into his seat as he realized he just insulted Kenma. He tried to think of a way to talk himself out of that one, and Bokuto let him stew in silence, the music from his town filling the room.

 

* * *

 

Since the in-game chat was too cumbersome to have a real conversation, Bokuto put Kenma on speakerphone to talk with him. Kenma was quiet, and he only spoke to give Bokuto advice on finding fish and bugs.

"Bokuto," Kuroo snapped in the middle of a call. "Why are you calling  _Kenma_ and not  _me_?" 

"Oh, hey, buddy. I haven't talked with you in a while."

"Bokuto, I was just at your house yesterday. You ignored me."

Bokuto heard rustling.

"Kuro, get away from the phone. It's mine."

"Damn it, Kenma, how are you spending more time talking with Bokuto than me?"

Bokuto leaned closer to his phone. "Uh, Kuroo, can you back off? I can't hear Kenma."

Static crackled as Kuroo's voice got louder. "Find someone new to play with and call, or I'll take away Kenma's phone."

"Kuro, no," Kenma said.

Bokuto frowned as he listened to Kuroo lead a one-sided argument. Kenma sighed, and Kuroo complained.

"Why can't you just join us?" Bokuto asked. "You can build a house and everything."

"I  _have_ a house. I already have a life, and clothes, and I don't care about dinosaurs and bugs."

"Dinosaurs," Kenma repeated. "You're right, you don't like them. But Tsukishima does. Bokuto, you should ask him for help with fossils."

Bokuto sat up. "Kei?"

"Don't call him that."

"Don't call him Tsukki, either," Kuroo added. "I tried."

Bokuto looked at his phone expectantly. "Well, guys, come on! Give me his number already."

"Gladly." Kuroo rummaged for his phone, and when he found it, he spelled out Tsukishima's number.

"Great! I'll call him after this phone call--"

Kuroo whispered  _bye_ and clicked off.

Bokuto's shoulders fell. "Why do you do this, Kuroo?"

He called Kuroo's phone this time. Kuroo had his number, so he could've seen the incoming call, but instead he picked up.

Kuroo greeted him with a groan. "What? What is it?"

"Just hold on this time. Give me a second."

Bokuto moved his phone away to swipe to Tsukishima's newly added contact, and he let his phone dial and hum waiting for Tsukishima to respond.

"Who is this?"

"It's me," Kuroo said.

"And me!"

"I'm sorry, Tsukishima," Kenma added. It didn't sound very sincere.

"…Who?"

"Ha, ha, very funny. You know it's your good friend Bokuto."

"No I didn't. Why are you calling me?"

"He's playing animal crossing," Kenma said. 

"This is probably going to get really boring..." Kuroo muttered something else lowly, but he was interrupted.

"Animal crossing? Are you actually playing that?" Tsukishima's voice usually sounded sharp enough to cut through an ordinary conversation with biting sarcasm, but tonight he was more exasperated than usual.

"Someone's grumpy…" Bokuto mumbled.

"Sorry, but it's 11 PM. I was about to go to bed." 

"So I guess it's always 11 PM to Tsukki," Kuroo said with a snicker.

The line cut off from Tsukishima's end. Bokuto groaned and threw his arm on the couch cushions.

"No, Kuroo, you scared him away!"

"What kind of teenager goes to bed at eleven on a Friday night?" Kuroo justified.

"Don't call him a loser. You're the one who won't play with us," Bokuto said.

"I'm afraid for you two. It sounds like a cult."

"Good," Kenma added in a deadpan.

 

* * *

 

The first thing Bokuto did the next morning was call Tsukishima. 

"Usually _,_ I have  _practice_ on Saturdays," Tsukishima said. "Did you think about that?"

"Kenma told me you didn't today." Bokuto rolled over onto his stomach and pulled his 3ds onto the bed. "Anyway, how many fossils do you have, Tsukki--shima?"

Tsukishima snorted at the name slip. "Just give me your friend code."

Bokuto cheerfully gave it to him. Tsukishima sighed, but Bokuto could hear the sounds of his game booting up and loading.

"What do you want help with? And why couldn't Kenma do it?"

Bokuto tapped his stylus on the screen to enter Tsukishima's code in. "Kuroo was getting annoyed that I hogged Kenma."

"Hogged Kenma? Look, I don't want you wasting my time, either."

"I just need help looking for fossils, bugs, and fish!"

Tsukishima grew silent.

"Please, please, Tsukishima? Kenma told me you had a lot."

"Why do you need them?"

"It's for the  _owl_ ," Bokuto said. " _Duh_." 

"Blathers?"

Bokuto nodded, and then realized he couldn't see it. "Yeah, him!"

"Ugh…"

Tsukishima grumbled more, wordless noises coming from his throat like growls.

"I want to go to your town first. Are owls different across towns? Kenma's was sad, I think. He sighed a lot. I feel really bad for Blathers."

Bokuto sat in front of the town gate desk, waiting for Tsukishima to open his gate. Tsukishima didn't say anything, so he kept rambling about owls. Kenma normally told him to stop.

"Is your town clean? Kenma's is really clean. I think he measured out exact spacing to plant trees and flowers."

"My town's just normal." 

And it kind of was. There were a lot of fruit trees, but very few flowers. There weren't any special patterns decorating the floor, either; the floor was empty aside from rocks, grass, and ponds. Bokuto saw a water fountain, benches, and a wishing well, though.

"Why don't you have a lot of flowers? It's okay to have some."

"I can turn my game off, you know."

Bokuto's hands flew as he cried out. His phone landed on the bed when he let go of it by accident. "No, no, I'm sorry, I won't do that again! I won't make fun of your town!" Bokuto tittered and scratched his neck. "I like all your fruit!"

"Just stop talking. I can show you my museum, if you want."

Bokuto mouthed  _yes,_ except he still articulated it enough to be heard. 

Bokuto led his character to the museum, using the map to dodge buildings instead of following Tsukishima.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm sightseeing. You need to stop and smell the roses, Tsukishima. Is it because you don't have any?" Bokuto already had a couple of flower packets with him, so he pulled them out and placed them in the ground. 

Tsukishima came up behind him and hit him with a net. "Stop  _planting_ roses."

"You need to liven up your town. I'm saying this as a friend, not a critic."

" _I don't want roses_."

When Tsukishima replaced his net with an axe, Bokuto started to run. He accidentally plowed through other flowers along the way, and he only stopped when he entered the museum.

"You're so violent…" Bokuto clicked his tongue. "You aren't like that on the court." 

Tsukishima cleared his throat as he stepped inside the museum. "Don't mess up my town any more."

Bokuto stood in front of Blathers and pressed the talk button over and over. After a couple minutes, Tsukishima started to pace around them.

"Why do you keep talking to him? He just says the same thing."

Bokuto gasped. "No he doesn't. He says different stuff as the museum fills up, and he tells stories! Your Blathers is happy. Lucky."

"Do you even want to look anywhere else?"

"Yeah, show me the fish. Are your fish tanks full? Do you have sharks?"

Boktuo didn't wait for Tsukishima to lead the way. He ran ahead to the aquarium section, and he strolled around as the tanks made babbling noises from the water filters.

"Ooh, you do have a shark!"

"It's nothing special."

He walked around further, checking the signs to read the kinds of fish and sea animals Tsukishima caught.

"What's a…what's…what's this? Co…coel…"

"A coelacanth?"

"Yeah that," Bokuto said as he snapped his fingers. "What is it? I've never heard of it before."

"It's one of the rarest fish in the whole game. It's based off a real fish that used to be classified as extinct." Tsukishima paused, and then he let out a huff. "Forget you heard that."

"Rare?" Bokuto groaned, and he hung his head. It sounded painful to find. "Can you help me look for one?"

"No. It took forever for me to find it myself."

"Oh. I see. You just want to help catch, what, sea bass?"

When Tsukishima didn't reply, Bokuto whined.

"I'm already going to help you find a couple fish. Don't push it." Tsukishima muttered Bokuto's name and a few other words Bokuto didn't catch.

"Okay! Let's go outside, then."

Bokuto followed Tsukishima outside to the beach. Bokuto tried to pick up coconuts and seashells, but Tsukishima scolded him and told him to save room in his pockets.

"You know how to fish, right?"

"Yeah. I'm not that stupid." Bokuto scoffed and pulled out a fishing rod. Fishing was a bit repetitive, but the water looked nice as the waves shimmered, and the sound of them hitting the sand was realistic.

"Is your museum completely full?" Bokuto asked.

"Yes." 

"Lucky! How long did it take?" 

"I don't remember."

"Was--"

"We don't have to talk," Tsukishima said quickly.

"But that's so  _boring_ ," Bokuto complained. "I already get that from Kenma."

Bokuto continued to talk, and Tsukishima went silent on his side of the call. He kept fishing, though, so Bokuto knew he didn't just get up and walk away.

"Alright, I think we've caught enough from here. Let's move to the waterfall."

Bokuto perked his head up. "What?"

"The waterfall. It's at the top of the map."

"There's fish there?!"

Tsukishima snorted. "This is going to take forever. Do you even fish in ponds and rivers?"

"…Ponds?"

 

* * *

 

Bokuto was more clueless with fishing than he thought, but he didn't take it that badly. He was still new to the game. 

"Thanks a lot for helping me, Tsukishima!" His character went through a bunch of emotions before finding the happy flowery expression.

Tsukishima made a strangled, irritated noise from his nose. Bokuto then sent a message through the game's chat, a couple of hearts and music notes instead of actual words. He kept sending some until Tsukishima interrupted.

"Don't ever text me," Tsukishima said after it flashed across their screens.

"Can I see your house now?"

"No."

Bokuto ran ahead anyway, laughing when Tsukishima grumbled into the phone.

"Get away from my house."

Bokuto opened the door and watched as Tsukishima chased after him. The first room he saw had only blue furniture, and blue flooring and wallpaper. He walked through other rooms and found one full of fruit furniture, including customized furniture to have strawberry designs, but the real surprise was one filled with fossils. 

"Fossils…" Bokuto whispered. "Tsukishima, can I--"

" _No_."

Loud banging came from the phone, and Bokuto jerked his head away. 

"If you hit your phone on the table like that, then you're going to break it," Bokuto said. He waited for the slamming to end, and when it did, he noticed Tsukishima trying to push him out of the room.

"Fine, you don't have to give me yours. But why do you have them in your house?"

"I don't need a reason."

"Okay, okay." Bokuto lifted his hands, and he dropped his phone again. "Damnit." He was used to sweeping his hands and moving them in gestures as he talked, and he kept forgetting that he was on the phone.

"How much longer are you going to stay?" Tsukishima asked. "I have homework to do. And so do you."

"Let me just see your neighbors real quick. I haven't talked to them yet."

Bokuto strolled between houses to chat with them. He found bears, horses, and rabbits in Tsukishima's town, and he kept talking to them as Tsukishima drummed his fingers on his phone at an impatient pace. 

At a burst of laughter, Tsukishima fumbled. "What? What happened?"

The neighbors were talking about their mayor, and they let a nickname slip. "Nothing,  _Sugar K_ ," Bokuto wheezed. He knew neighbors could give nicknames, but he always turned them down. They gave embarrassing ones, and most of them weren't even as cutesy as Tsukishima's. 

"…Get out of my town."

 

* * *

 

The next day, Bokuto called him up again and whined until Tsukishima caved. 

"I'm going to your town this time."

"Fine by me." Bokuo opened his gate, and Tsukishima walked in a few minutes later.

Tsukishima stopped moving, his character facing Bokuto. "Are you wearing different clothes?" Tsukishima asked.

"Yup. I change them every day."

Tsukishima didn't say anything, but Bokuto assumed that he was shaking his head.

"Just show me your house."

Bokuto nodded and hummed as he headed back to his home. It only had one room, and it was at its largest setting. The furniture was mismatched, since he didn't have enough from any single collection to decorate, but he chose what he liked and set it wherever.

"I can't believe you have balloon furniture," Tsukishima said.

"It's just a lamp."

"Still…"

"Don't criticize me. You're too unoriginal to do anything other than match furniture up. It's so uninspired."

Tsukishima slipped out of the house by the time Bokuto finished talking.

"That's so rude, Sugar K."

"Stop calling me that," Tsukishima said through gritted teeth.

"Well, since you said please, I guess I'll do as you say."

Bokuto tried to keep quiet as Tsukishima led him through town holding a net, but he still chimed in uselessly.

"Do you keep fish in your house, too?"

"No."

"Why do you like fruit furniture? Why did you have a room full of it? Can I have some fruit from your trees?"

"Be quiet, and I'll think about it."

Bokuto slouched in his seat on his bed and pouted. It couldn't work over the phone, but he did it out of habit. He liked to think that Tsukishima could sense it happening, and that maybe he'd apologize.

"Wait wait, what kind of bug is that?"

"You mean a grasshopper?"

"Let me catch it!"

Bokuto raced after it, slamming his net down repeatedly until he was successful. When his character held it up, a passing neighbor paused to applaud.

Bokuto bowed his head. "Thank you, thank you. I know, I'm great."

He heard Tsukishima chortle, but when he asked about it, Tsukishima denied it.

 

* * *

 

Bokuto played with Kenma later, but it wasn't the same. Kenma wasn't fun to tease, since he didn't really respond unless he gave advice or was very irritated. Bokuto ended up telling him that he was going out of the house, but he just flipped the wireless switch and went offline. 

"Kenma really is dull... Am I boring too?"

Bokuto pursed his lips as he stepped into the museum, and he found Blathers sighing to himself.

"Me too, Blathers."

He asked Blathers what was wrong. He didn't completely understand Blathers' word choice, but he humored Blathers anyway, agreeing to help his friend open a café.

Bokuto rubbed his eyes. "You're such a good friend to Brewster, Blathers…"

 

* * *

 

Since Tsukishima was kind enough to fish and catch bugs with him, Bokuto decided to buy him gifts. He bought furniture pieces he knew wouldn't match Tsukishima's rooms, but he liked them better, so he wrapped a few in letters and addressed them to him. He didn't write anything in them aside from more symbols. 

"What? You sent me letters?"

"Yeah! Open it."

He watched Tsukishima's character open them in front of him.

"A cupid bench. Regal armoire? What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Put them in your house!"

Tsukishima sighed. "I can't do it when you're around me. The game won't let me."

"Fine. Later, then."

Bokuto clapped his hands together. "Now, let's--oh, crap, why do I keep  _doing_ that."

He picked up his phone and returned it to his ear.

"Anyway, let's go dig for fossils today. I saw some cracks in the floor, but I forgot where they were. And don't keep the fossils! I know you like them!"

"I do not."

Bokuto elbowed the air. "No need to be shy. You love fossils. Kenma already knew and told me."

He stopped talking, knowing that Tsukishima was about to sigh. He felt smug, though.

* * *

 

Bokuto kept buying items and gifting them to Tsukishima. It was his way of saying thanks, but he didn't know if it was enough. Tsukishima seemed like he could be dense enough to not know that it was in gratitude, or just pretend he didn't know.

Bokuto secretly filled out messages on Tsukishima's bulletin board when he was over, and he bought different kinds of glasses along with the furniture. He snuck a look into Tsukishima's house to check the rooms, and he found a new expansion that had only his presents on display. The thought made him warm in his chest.

Tsukishima probably noticed the messages and gifts lying around--and some were buried in the ground along with ordinary fossils, since Bokuto liked that idea--but he didn't say anything until Bokuto started to add flowers here and there. None of them were roses, but it still made Tsukishima protest.

"I didn't ask for flowers, Bokuto."

"Flowers? What flowers?"

Tsukishima moved to stand over tulips. "I didn't plant these."

"Oh, come on, you need them."

Instead of denying that, Tsukishima backed up and ran over them multiple times until petals flew, bursting into pieces in the air.

Bokuto's mouth fell open. "That's…so mean…" 

"Mean? I told you not to do it."

Bokuto slid a hand over his face, his nose wrinkling. "I won't do it anymore, then!"

"I know you're trying to sniffle, but that doesn't sound real." 

Bokuto dropped his hands. "I-- _goddamn it_."

He dove for his phone, but it was too late; he accidentally dropped it, and the cushion smudged the disconnect button.

Bokuto thought about calling again, but then he crossed his arms and twisted his mouth. 

"I should just leave his town. That'll teach him."

 

* * *

 

The guilt trip worked, sort of. Tsukishima grumbled and slunk back to Bokuto's town, but instead of actually apologizing, he just planted dandelions. Bokuto didn't know what that was supposed to mean; dandelions were weeds. 

"Tsukishima, what are you doing?"

"Just accept them."

"They're weeds. You can't just give me weeds and expect me to forgive you."

Tsukishima paused. "Fine. What do you want me to do?"

"How about let me plant flowers in your town?"

"You really can't let this go. Alright, plant gold roses for all I care. Just stop talking about it."

Bokuto straightened. "Roses? Really?"

"I'm going to really regret this."

Bokuto returned to his town and stocked up on some flowers his town already had growing. He went back and forth to transport them, stopping at the gardening stores in both of their towns for more. He could hear Tsukishima sigh and groan, but he really did let Bokuto fill his town with just roses.

"There," Bokuto said. "That's all I had."

"Are you happy now? Can you quit moping?"

Bokuto was tired from doing it, and he sensed that he was somehow tricked into doing work, but he still felt a pleasant buzz in his head from it.

"I do. Now water these every day. I don't want them to die."

Tsukishima stayed quiet for a moment. "I didn't think this through."

* * *

 

Apparently, there was no way to transfer fish and bugs between players. Bokuto was irritated, but Tsukishima was very relieved to relay the info. 

"Sorry, no coelacanth for you."

Bokuto grumbled to himself. "I guess you're free on that one. But you still have to help me dig for fossils."

"Sure."

Tsukishima's voice was starting to drop the sardonic edge recently, and that time, Bokuto couldn't even tell if Tsukishima was joking or not. Clear sincerity from Tsukishima made Bokuto wary.

"You sound…nice today."

"Are you trying to pick a fight?"

"No. I'm just curious."

Tsukishima took off with a shovel to find fossils, leaving Bokuto to find them separately. When they fished or hunted bugs, they still trailed after each other to spot them and let Bokuto take unfamiliar species, but with fossils, that didn't matter. Bokuto trusted Tsukishima enough now to not stow them in his pockets or closet. 

"Alright, here's a few," Tsukishima said as he dropped some on the floor in front of Bokuto. "Take these to the museum."

Bokuto went ahead on his own to have Blathers assess them. Bokuto smiled when Blathers rocked back and forth happily and accepted the donations. Blathers seemed to like fossils the most, and he rambled on about them.

Bokuto's mouth fell open, and he lit up when he realized what Blathers was saying.

"Tsukishima! Guess what!"

"What?" Tsukishima sent a question mark in the game's chat, and Bokuto swelled in pride from it. Tsukishima wasn't so cynical about that anymore. 

"My museum's full! For fossils, anyway!" 

"Congratu--" 

Bokuto bounced in his seat, and his phone slid from where he was squeezing it between his ear and shoulder. He caught it, but he didn't hear what Tsukishima said.

"What did you say? Oh, who cares, I got them all! Thank you, I love you!"

When he heard spluttering, Bokuto's eyes snapped wide in horror.

"I mean  _it_. I love  _it._ I love the museum," Bokuto amended in a rush. He wriggled his arms and stared at the phone as he took it away from his face.

Tsukishima coughed. "I know."

"Oh god, what did I just say? Did I just say I love you? I didn't mean it!"

"Got it, Bokuto."

"Wait, that sounds mean! I didn't not mean…I'm…" Bokuto hung his head, and he tapped on his screen to save his game and leave. "I'm gonna go now."

He pressed his thumb on the  _end call_  button before Tsukishima could say anything, and he lowered his face to his hands, his shoulders bristling and neck burning.

**Author's Note:**

> They'd probably go on dates in acnl by sitting on benches and watching fireworks.
> 
> (General A/N that exists at the end of all my fics): I find unsolicited concrit really rude, I'm not looking for any. Please don't tell me someone was OOC/something happened you didn't like/it's too short/etc. in any bookmarks or comments.


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